13 posts tagged “birthday”

After keeping a blog for sometime, events will repeat, it's at that time you realize how quickly time passes!! Taei turned 31 years old on Tuesday! My babes is gettin' old!! LoL!! We met when he was just 19 years old and now look!! This year his day off from work landed on his birthday, so I decided to take the day off too and have a whole day for just the two of us!!

I had his birthday chalk full of things to do...so even though we took the day off, we were still up at 4:30 am!! Hours earlier than I usually get up for work! But I wanted to get to Diamond Head as soon as the gates opened so we can get our hike on BEFORE the sun rose!!

It was SO dark when we got there I only snapped a few shots...most of my photos were on the way back down!

I did manage to get one pix of him...if it were lit in the background you'd be able to see Kaimuki and Palolo Valley, but right now no...

This is the first time both me and Taei have hiked Diamond Head. Keep in mind we just completed the Great Aloha Run and just a few days before this I walked over two miles due to crazy traffic...BUT I was not prepared for this hike. Here's what the brochure says:

"The 0.8 mile hike from trailhead to the summit is steep and strenuous, gaining 560 feet as it ascends from the crater floor. The walk is a glimpse into the geological and military history of Diamond Head. A concrete walkway built to reduce erosion shifts to a natural tuff surface about 0.2 mile up the trail with many switchbacks traversing the steep slope of the crater interior. The ascent continues up steep stairs and through a lighted 225-foot tunnel to enter the Fire Control Station completed in 1911."

I've seen the shirts boasting "I made it 99 steps to the top of Diamond Head" and what not, but it isn't JUST 99 STEPS! It's 74 freakin' steps, then 99 of the steepest steps I've EVER climbed!! It was not fun for a few minutes...especially when you got a bus load of japanese tourist and some hardcore hiking people who must do this every day on your tail! But I made it, to an AMAZING view that I'm glad I didn't miss!

Obviously all of us early birds are there to either A. avoid the sun and/or B. to try and catch the sunrise! Luckily we made it with a frew minutes to spare!

It took us a little over half an hour to get to the top...some of the tourist and hardcore guys must've did it in like 20-25 minutes!! And once that sun was out...so were they!! Here they are headin' back down already...lol!

Here's some shots from the top...looking both East and West...

I packed some spam musubi and juice for us to snack on at the top and then we started the descent, one last pix...

So by this time, the suns up, there's more light, and I don't have 100 japanese people breathing down my neck! So here's a backwards view of the hike...

 

Just before you reach the lookout (or Fire Control Area) you have these narrow, winding steps...keep in mind that before you get to this point you've hiked the side of a mountain, climbed 74 steps, went down a 225 ft tunnel, hiked 99 more steep steps, and another tunnel! It was kinda funny catching my breath at the bottom to see everyone's reaction to these stairs...I don't speak Japanese, but I'm pretty sure they were saying something along the lines of, "OH HELL NO!! I just climbed close to 200 steps and now this..." or something like that! LoL!

 

 

 

These are the 99 steps from hell that are super steep and designed to kill you...

 

 

 

 

Notice that by this time Taei was carrying everything?? That's why I love this man so much!! Thanks babe! LoL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even through all that...I really enjoyed myself! It was nice to do something with Taei, but our days not over yet!! It's only just begun! But here's a few more random Diamond Head shots...

After our hike I thought it'd be nice to hang out on Waikiki Beach. Taei loves to go to the beach, but our weekends are normally really busy and we don't get to go that often...so off we went!

 

 

Good thing about going to the beach so early...prime street parking with no meter to pay...not so good thing, it's really freakin' cold! LoL!!

 

 

We did see this group doing some weird balancing yoga! Click on the picture to see it up close.

 

 

 

You might think he looks grouchy, but this is a look of contentment. When I asked him if he'd rather be doing something else, he said no...we don't have enough "just chill" time...he's absolutely right!! Taei did jump in the water for a little while and I opted for a nap. Afterwards we stopped over at one of our favorite spots...

 

 

Just kidding!!

 

 

Teddy's Bigger Burgers! They're supposed to be opening a spot out in Kapolei, but when?? C'mon Teddy's lets get craccalaccin!! LoL!!

 

 

We both ordered Combo #2 with pepper jack cheese. This is the 7 oz patty...Taei was thinkin' just the 5 oz, but I made him man up and at least get the 7 oz. It was SO yummy and cooked medium, which I LOVE!! The sauce is amazing and you can't help but get the stuff all over your face...After lunch we headed home to wash up before our next appointment.

We both had a Shiatsu massage. Taei's been before, my mom and sister try to go often. If you don't know Shiatsu is a Japanese massage technique which according to the Japanese Medical Department of Ministry and Welfare "Shiatsu technique refers to the use of fingers and palm of one's hand to apply pressure to particular sections on the surface of the body for the purpose of correcting the imbalances of the body, and for maintaining and promoting health. It is also a method contributing to the healing of specific illnesses."

I've never done Shiatsu because I heard it's quite painful because of the intense pressure, but whenever I ask Taei to massage my back he insists I should just go to Shiatsu, that we should go together. Taei's work is much more physical and between that and basketball his body gets really sore, so for his birthday we got massages. Let me tell you, an hour of that was AWESOME! I was nervous that it'd be too painful and there were some sore moments, but once the massage was over I felt so much more relaxed and my back felt so loose! I definitely want to make that a regular thing, but probably like 2 or 3 times a year, cuz I don't know if I could afford much more!

Another thing that Taei have been trying to do since the movie came out is watch Paul Blart: Mall Cop...well I checked the movie times the day before and everything was all good to see the movie and still make it to dinner with the rest of the family, but for one reason or another Paul Blart was an hour later than I thought and that would've made us an hour late for dinner. So we decided on Madea Goes to Jail instead!

We still want to see Paul Blart, but Madea was an excellent sub! This movie is HILARIOUS!! Tyler Perry is so freakin' crazy playing all those different roles!! I think this might be my favorite Tyler Perry movie. If you haven't seen it yet, go watch it!!

Finally...the end of our day! Dinner with the family! Taei wanted to keep things simple and cheap so we met up with some of the family at Pearlridge Sizzlers. It turned out to be alot of fun and I don't think anyone can beat sizzlers cheese toast and chicken wings!!

And of course the best part of the night...PRESENTS!!

THOSE WERE AWESOME GIFTS EVERYONE!! Thank you so much for everything, but most importantly thanks for being apart of our day!! Taei especially loves Call of Duty 5: World at War...he opened it up as soon as we got home and played for hours (hehehe...okay, that was me!!) One more thing...I am so proud of the shirts I gave Taei for his birthday. I know it's nothing fancy or expensive, but something small that I knew he'd like. After our Great Aloha Run t-shirts came out so awesome I made a few with these graphics that Taei likes. Check it out...

I thought they came out good!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAEI!!!

Okay, so we were only planning on flying into AZ driving to Vegas, staying for 4 days and then driving back to AZ and flying home. Well on our first day in Vegas we got a call about Taei's grandma. Since we were so close I checked into how much it'd cost to change our air reservations and extend our rental car. The cause far outweighed the cost and off we went to Cali...but first a couple of random Vegas pix...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here we go to Cali!! The drive between AZ and Vegas was an experience that I probably wouldn't do again, but at least I can say I did it. The drive between Cali and Vegas is alot nicer. It's basically a straight line all the way through. Here are some scenes of our drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of Taei's family live in the San Bernardino/Riverside area of Cali. We stayed in Yucaipa, CA with the most awesomest people ever...Junior, Juliana, and their two adorable kids Elijah and Lanaya. Here's a pix of us after church on Sunday.

Junior and Juliana are the couple in the middle and that's Junior's brother Lorenzo and his wife Michelle on the right. HUGE SHOUT OUT TO JUNIOR AND HIS FAMILY FOR OPENING UP THEIR HOME TO US WITH JUST A FEW HOURS NOTICE!!! THANKS SO MUCH GUYS!

We didn't know that a couple of days after we arrived was Junior's birthday. So as a thank you we wanted to take the family out for his birthday. Junior LOVES sushi (we MUST be related!) but the rest of his family aren't huge fans, so he took advantage of us fellow sushi lovers and chose a place named Miyagi's Sushi.

Miyagi's is located in San Bernardino...228 E Base Line St. Junior had heard good things but never been there. So off we went. It's a pretty small place, but very comfortable. The staff is very friendly and the owner even came over to see how things were going...is it safe to assume it was Mr. Miyagi?? Wax on, Wax off!! LoL!! At Miyagi's you can order dinner plates or for $21 you can do an all you can eat (technically order) buffet of sushi! 4 of us opted to do the buffet, while Juliana and the kids ordered from the menu. Here's just a sampling of what we had! 

 

I can't remember exactly what was in this, but it was SO GOOD...I all but licked the bowl clean!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had alot of fun at Miyagi's. Mr. Miyagi even had his staff (and basically the rest of the restaurant) sing Happy Birthday to Junior and gave him a complimentary Rainbow roll!

 

 

 

 

Check out this rainbow roll!! It's super cute and all they did was turn over a wine glass, spread a little imitation crab, add a cherry and a candle!! They were awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd totally go back to Miyagi's the next time I'm in Cali. The sushi was pretty good, coming from Hawaii with all the poke and fish we have here it's hard to compete, but if I'm there and hungry for some sushi I'd definitely hit it!! Afterwards we headed over to a yogurt shop near Junior's home. It's called Frugo's Yogurt.

The idea is, there are like 8-10 flavors of yogurt. They had one called Hawaiian Delight...it was SO good, tasted like a creamy Hawaiian punch. They even had a pumpkin yogurt that really tasted like pumpkin pie! After you choose your yogurt you serve it up yourself. Then you head over to their buffet of toppings and top it off yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They've got a TON of toppings to choose from...gummi worms, bears, whoppers, m&m's, skittles, a variety of nuts, cookie dough, chocolate cake pieces, cheesecake pieces, just tons to choose! Once you add your toppings you have your dessert weighed...they charge by the ounce!! It's was SO yummy!

Here's mine...I absolutely LOVE chocolate yogurt with rainbow sprinkles. I know it's boring compared to all the yogurt flavors and toppings available, but why ruin a good thing??? I did have a little peanut butter yogurt mixed in, which was so good!! Frugo's is definitely on my list of must-do's the next time I go as well!! LoL!!

So my brother-in-laws birthday was on the 25th, but because of this or that the party was held tonight. Our family loves to karaoke as you might've already picked up from past blog entries! Here we are at HMC Karaoke singin' the night away!

 

My sis-in-law works at HMC and she had a CRAZY amount of slips from our party for songs!! They guys really do love to sing and all genre's too...rap, hip hop, country, pop, musicals...lol!!

 

 

C'mon Becky...just sing the song, you know you want to! LoL!! It was actually one of them songs where no one would 'fess up to pickin it!

 

The birthday boy with is "brother" Juv and "sister" Tiff. Funny thing about Pete, he introduces EVERYONE as either his brother or sister! So if you're just meeting us, you think that everyone is related or that we're really weird...like when he introduces his brother Taei and Taei's wife his sister Samantha...huh?? lol!!

 

 

 

A couple of things...first, this couch was the place to be!! lol!! Everyone made a stop by this couch at some point in the night! And second...I didn't realize there was more than just the 4 of us posin' for this picture!! These guys are crazy!

And as always...we gotta get a picture of "da boys" nearly every function has one of these photos!! LoL!! It was a fun night...Peter put on a concert for us, not only does he sing, but he dances too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE!!

So August is chalkful of birthdays in our family! And it isn't just alot of birthdays in one month, ALL the birthdays are in one week! On the 21st is Great Grandma and a Sister, then on the 23rd is a niece, the 24th is a nephew, and the 25th is my mom-in-law! Crazy huh?!?! Not to mention two uncles who live far away are on the 23rd as well! Christmas time must be nice in this family...if ya know what I mean...lol!!

So for my mother-in-law all she wanted to do was have dinner at a little Thai place in Kapolei called Kularb Lao Thai Restaurant. I've only eaten Thai food once or twice before, but had heard alot about that Pad Thai noodles. So I figured I'd try that!

 

 

 

 

Here's my Pad Thai Noodles w/ Shrimp. It was $8.95 and okay. I'm not a Thai food connoisseur by any means. It had a peanutty flavor and my most favorite part was the cilantro on the sides! 

 

 

 

These are stuffed chicken wings. Basically they debone the chicken and add a bunch of carrots, sprouts, and other veggies with chicken. Bread it and deep fry it...it's YUMMY!!

 

Here's a Long Rice Salad that my sis-in-law ordered. I didn't try it, but she said it was pretty spicy! Good, but spicy and she can't handle alot of spice!

 

 

Regular 'ol summer rolls, but I LOVE the freshness of the mint!

 

 

Funny thing about my mother-in-law (pictured at the head of the table), she likes to try SO many different dishes that she normally will order 4 or 5 different types of food. It doesn't matter where you are, she even does that at Zippy's! LoL...but at least she satisfies whatever her craving might be! A few of us ordered the Thai Sticky Rice...I tried it and it just tastes like jasmine rice to me...not to mention all rice in Hawaii is "sticky" so I don't really get the appeal. We had a little sticky rice competition...

 

 

First contestant was the Sticky Rice Ring of Fire. Okay...its a ring made out of rice...how hard could that be right??

 

 

If you can't tell, this is a Sticky Rice Car. By far the hands down winner!! LoL...in an effort to get back into the competition my brother-in-law made this...

 

 

A Sticky Rice Cross...I dunno...kinda sad, huh?? LoL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like I said I'm not an expert on Thai food, but it was pretty decent. I probably wouldn't go back to that particular restaurant though. But it was pretty cheap so if you're interested in cheap and you're in the Kapolei area check it out!

Our family loves to party and we're always lookin' for an excuse to do it! So even though Teyana's birthday was in June, we had scheduling conflict, but were determined to party!! LoL!! So tonight we rented out the Wheeler Bowling and partied up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kinda dark my picture! But here's my FAVORITE broteher-in-law, Kula, visiting us from Colorado!! I haven't seen him in over a year and this after he told me he'd be moving back!! LoL!! But man have we missed him!! He's so wild and crazy and brings so much fun to our lives...lol!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at how cute Alena is!! She's gettin' so big...seriously, don't let this picture fool ya!! She's about 5 months old now and laughs and smiles all the time. Well, except for when she's sleeping...then she's rough lookin' like her daddy! LoL!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know...I've been to how many parties at a bowling alley this past  year and I NEVER bowl! There's always so much people and the pressure and I help out and I can't bowl that well...lol!! But some bowled...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Others played those video games...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we were silly with the camera again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course the reason we're all here tonight...

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Ta-na-na!!

One of my oldest friends ever...like seriously, we were in the same Kindergarten class...then she moved schools for a couple years, then she came back and we hung out until 8th grade...then I went to Kamehameha and she went to Moanalua, but we're still friends and have been trying to hang out more. She's so wild and cooky!!! And today she turns 28!! Initially she said that we'd be at Epic on Nuuanu in ChinaTown and I was stoked, but for one reason or another they had to move us over to Du Vin on Bethel Street...

It's a quaint little spot that serves french food and a ton of wines! I've never been here before so I had NO idea what to expect!! Here's some shots of the restaurant.

 

Okay, so you walk in to this Cheer's like looking bar. There's about 5 or 6 tables opposite it and on Wednesday nights they have live music. It seemed really small...but if you keep walking...

 

 

You're outside again!! They have an indoor/outdoor eating area with about 4 or 5 more tables. It's so rustic looking!! How cool...okay, I need more culture, obviously!! They also have this cute little table...

 

 

It's a romantic little nook. A small table inside of a little alcove where a man can propose to his lady...lol!! Too much wine in the air! But a super cute little spot. Only thing, the couple that was sitting there (after I snapped this picture), were facing out to whoever was walking back and forth. Almost like monkeys at the zoo...lol!! Here's a few more shots of patio area...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So they party was in a small back room, which has about 5 or 6 tables, where they pushed all together for us. So you walk into Du Vin, walk out to their al fresco dining area, and then walk back in to this room!! It even has its own bar!

 

 

The room was pretty dark so I attempted another setting on my camera. Here's a few shots of the table and the private room!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, Kristin told me we'd be doing "drinks and pupus" at the "first place" well I have to work in the morning, so the "first place" was my "only place" but not being completely sure what/where we'd be. I did have a little something to munch on earlier in the evening. But I couldn't be completely rude and NOT eat anything so Tiff and I created our own little sample menu and it worked out PERFECTLY!! Not to heavy, but enought to chitchat and be social. One more funny thing about Kristin's party...she's such an ecclectic and social person that she invited a bunch of people that didn't know each other! But by the end of the night we had an enjoyable time with some of her friends, Travis, Kris, Jeremy, and Taryn!!

 

 

 

Kinda bad shot...but this the complimentary bread and balsamic vinegar with olive oil dipping sauce. The bread was warm and I love the combination of the balsamic and olive oil!!

 

 

 

Here's the Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Pommes Frites, $18. Tiff prefers her steak pretty medium well...like basically well, or that moment just before well done...lol!! But it was good. If I ordered it, I would've gone a little more medium on the meat. That's a shallot aioli sauce in the container. It's actually a pretty filling dish!

 

 

So as I mentioned I had already eaten, but I didn't wanna be rude. So I took advantage of an opportunity to step a little outside the box and order something different. The top phot is the Chef's platter, $18. It includes Manchego, Taleggio, Gouda, Gorgonzola and Genoa Salami and I added Prosciutto for an extra $5. It was VERY good and interesting. I had never tried manchego, taleggio, or gouda cheese before. The cheese on the left is manchego. The menu describes it as "Firm sheep’s milk cheese from Spain has a melt-in-your-mouth interior with a nutty, butterscotch flavor" It was a bit interesting. Not my favorite but I ate it. Suprisingly I really enjoyed the gargonzola, the one in the middle. My fellow diners seemed to have more experience with meats and cheese and wines and whatever, so they suggested I eat some of the grapes and walnuts as well because that helps to bring out the flavors better!!

 

 

 Moving on...I really stepped out of the box on this one and ordered Escargot, $15. Du Vin serves there in an "herbed, garlic green butter". I wasn't sure what to expect, but my new friend Taryn said it was kind of like eating a mushroom. And she was right. It was pretty good, especially with the herbed, garlic green butter sauce. Hey...at least I can now say, "Oh, yeah, of course I've had escargot..." LOL!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was pretty cool!! Oh and check out how they pour the wine...

 

 

 

The wine glasses are already on the table and they use a small decanter, with just one serving of wine in it, and pour it, but they pour at least 8 inches high from the glass!! Cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The birthday girl got a yummy banana chocolate crepe with vanilla ice cream!!

 

 

 

It was SO good...the vanilla ice cream wasn't  your regular vanilla. It was SO creamy and the flavor was so rich!! Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All and all...it was a very cool experience. It makes me wanna try out new restaurants!! Maybe that'll be our new thing after acupuncture on Saturdays?? LoL!! Here's a few more of the birthday girl!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRIS!!

 

 

By far the best day of my year!! LoL!! I don't want to seem super shallow, but I always feel good on my birthday. Some years I just want a quiet something with close friends and family and other years I wanna throw a HUGE party. I don't like planning my own birthday event and luckily I haven't had to I have a good husband, a best friend, and sisters that help out! I plan ALOT of other people's functions that I think a small form of repayment would be to think of me on my special day. This year was an off year...meaning I'm now 28. I like to do big fancy parties on milestone years...18th, 21st, 25th, and basically the round numbers after that...25, 30, 35. So being that I turned 28 I didn't feel like I needed a huge shindig. I got exactly what I wanted...time with my closest peeps and a pedicure!!

My day started off at work, cuz unless I'm traveling I don't normally take off on my birthday. My office was nice enough to sing Happy Birthday and we enjoyed a cupcake pull-apart cake. We celebrate everyone's birthday. I know some people are shy about it, but it's just something small to recognize them and a little break in the monotony of everyday humbug!

I did leave work an hour early. My sister picked me up and we headed out to get a little pampering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nail spots always have at least one flat screen tv, some have a few and they have magazines to pass the time. But for me the BEST part of getting my nails done is going with my friends and chitchatting with them about whatever! One of my all time BESTEST friends in the whole wide world, SMiLEforME, treated me to a spa pedicure. This place (called AmeriNails, right next to Cattle Company in Waimalu) not only do they clean, trim, and scrape, but use hot wax on your feet and some sort of menthol rub on your legs. They pour the hot wax into a plastic bag, you put your feet in, and they cover your foot with the hot wax. You sit and let it harden then after about 10 minutes they peel it back and thats supposed to help remove even more of that yucky dead, scaley skin from your feet!! Very relaxing! Plus with my reunion luau coming up this Saturday already I decided to get my nails and eyebrows done also! My little sister was nice enough to pay for my nails and I paid for my own eyebrows...the cheapest thing I did today!

Afterwards my sister-in-law and Taei met us for dinner!!

No this restaurant doesn't hold any sentimental value to me we were just hungry for shrimp and stuff and saw a commercial on tv when we were talking about something to do for my birthday! But I haven't come here in a fairly long time, so I didn't mind!! Of course one of our most favorite parts of dining at Red Lobster is...

The complimentary cheesy garlic biscuits! They are SO yummy and seriously, I can make a meal out of just these and water! LoL!! I've attempted to make them at home, and they came out pretty good, but for your birthday you want other people to do the work! We started off with two appetizers.

 

 

The Seafood Fondue, $8.99, is like heaven in a sourdough bread bowl! It has chunks of shrimp and crabmeat mixed into to a creamy lobster cheese sauce! I'm embarrased to tell you we destroyed this! Ate the bread bowl and all!

 

 

We also go the Lobster Artichoke and Seafood Dip, $9.75. This was good too! Artichokes, spinach, maine and langostino lobster, and more seafood mixed in served with chips. I liked the fondue better!

 

 

All entree's come with a choice of Ceasar or Garden salad. Both are good, I actually prefer the garden, but they have about a gazillion different dressings and I wasn't in the mood to think so I opted for ceasar.

 

 

Both Tiff and I decided on the Seaside Shrimp Trio, $18.99. It comes with Walt's favorite shrimp (just battered and fried shrimp), shrimp scampi, and shimp pasta. You get a choice of mashed potatoes, baked potato, fries, rice, or broccoli. I opted for the broccoli and Tiff got the baked potato. It was SO good...I finished my entire plate!

 

 

My sister-in-law, Jolena, got the Shrimp and Lobster Pasta, I think this was like $15.50. This is her favorite, but I honestly didn't taste it so I can't say it was either good or bad! But it sure does look good!

 

 

Emily got a the Shrimp Your Way Platter, $17.25, since she got 3 choices. Fried shrimp, jumbo shrimp, and shrimp scampi all with a baked potato. To me, you can never go wrong with a plate of shrimp!! Except for maybe coconut shrimp, I like coconut, I like shrimp, I don't like them together! LoL!!

 

 

 

 

Finally Taei got the Honey BBQ Shrimp and Chicken, $19.50. The sauce smelt SO good. Just the right combination of sweet and salty! The entree comes with mashed potatoes, plus you pick another side, so Taei is a carb lover and got rice!

You know we couldn't walk away without dessert! It was my birthday!! LoL!! We got two of these, Warm Chocolate Chip Lava Cookie, $6.75. It was okay...chocolate is always yummy and the cold ice cream was a nice compliment to the oozing chocolate and warm cookie!! I forgot to take a pix so I borrowed this from the Red Lobster website. We also ordered their Key Lime Pie, $5.99, I forgot to grab a pix of that too. But that was really good! I don't normally care of "fruity" desserts especially when I have to choose between that and chocolate, but it was very refreshing!

 

It was such a fun night talking and laughing!! I normally love big parties and being the center of attention, but this year I wouldn't choose anything more than enjoying time with some of the most important people in my life!

Well my little sister is turning 23...ouch...the older she gets means the older I get...lol!! So a bunch of decided to head over to Aiea Bowl to celebrate.

Every Friday and Saturday nights they have cosmic bowling from 9 pm - 2 am! It gets pretty crowded and when I called they suggested I come by around 4 pm to put my name on the waiting list for cosmic bowling!! Good thing we did too because at 4 pm we were already like the 12th party on the wait list!! We got there about 8:15 and thought we'd eat first, it was crowded, but we ended up getting our lanes at around 9:40! Not bad since they originally told us it might not be until like 10:30!! Here's some flicks of the night!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, so if you haven't been to Aiea Bowl lately then you don't know how much of a major renovation has been done. The alley itself is super nice now, the chairs look pretty new and aren't all icky from years of use! The Alley is the restaurant boasting tons of SUPER ONO dishes and the decor is very modern. Whenever there's cosmic bowling they even bring in a DJ...and tonight his mix was super tight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I think this is an AWFUL picture of me, I've decided to post it to make a point. See, as you've seen from previous blog entries, I've been playing alot of Wii bowling. Well, scoring a 300 in Wii bowling gives you an imagined self confidence. Not that I thought I'd be able to bowl a 300 tonight, but maybe half...lets just say....no! lol!! On to the food...we were so hungry we just devoured all the food as we got it, so sorry, I had to borrow some pix from the Aiea Bowl website. We had like three orders of the fried calamari, $9.00 This calamari was so good! Very meaty, you know how sometimes its mostly batter? Well not at the Alley!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh...and trust me...even though these are the restaurant pictures, the food really did look that good. The price is a bit high, but they do give alot and since all we ate were pupus that night it was all GUUD! Next we had a couple of orders of their garlic fries. It was good! A very strong garlic flavor, but not like you were sweating out garlic or anything. I needed some ketchup to stabilize it though and I love garlic! This picture doesn't do it justice, but I think the price was like $7, but it's for 3/4 pounds!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things that I LOVE at Aiea Bowl is their Tasty Chicken. It's like a garlic chicken and so good...like seriously...the broke da mout kind good...lol!! For $11 you get a huge plate of chicken!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just imagine this plate, with no rice or salad, way bigger, with 3 times more chicken!! The food was so good we're planning on going back just to eat! Finally we had some sliders, a bit pricey at $14, but it was so good! Not to mention their burgers are handmade...yes! Throw on the cheese and bacon and I'm in HEAVEN!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were snapping so many pictures that we did get a bit crazy and ended up in a camera war...

So crazy!! lol!! Here's a few more of the night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, so here's one where you ask a tipsy Kaimi to take a picture for us, hand him the camera, everyone get in place and this is what he snaps...

He takes a picture of himself!! LOL!! Kaimi you're so silly! But after a few seconds explanation he realizes that we want him to take a picture of the four of us!! lol!!

Here's the old sku crew!! I've known the two ladies on the bottom for over 20 years and me and Tiff are nearly there in years too!! Even after all the years of going to seperate schools, different colleges, boyfriends, jobs, and whatever here we are still close as heck! I love these girls!! A GREAT night...gotta do it again soon!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EM!!

 **WARNING...TODAY'S BLOG IS LONG & CONTAINS A LOT OF PICTURES**

One weird thing about our clique of friends...our birthdays seem to last over the course of a few days instead of just that one!! Stickin' with tradition today is my baby's 30th birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! lol!! I've been workin' with Tiff and my sister, Emily, to plan a throwback to the 70's Disco party!! So last night we had the party at Rumour's Night Club in the Ala Moana Hotel. For just $100 you can reserve the VIP room, which holds about 20 people comfortably, you get the room the entire night and your own server! It was great. We didn't go all  out on decorations, but we had some favors...

The idea was to make a CD, but make it look like an old 45 record. I didn't catch a shot of the inside, but here's what the lil man looked like on the CD...

LOL!! I crack up EVERYTIME I look at this!! Also decorating the tables were some of the prizes for the night. We had two lava lamps for the best Disco Outfit, 2 Goody Baskets for the Dancing King and Queen, and 2 Rubiks Cubes, but I can't remember what the category that prize was for. The goody baskets had candies from the 70's like Wonka Bottle Caps, Big Chew Gum, Razzles, Double Bubble Bubble Gum, Ring pops, Dip & Lick Sticks, and just a ton more!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I get more into the rest of our night...check out the food. For a separate charge, you can order one of two pupu menus. I opted to get nachos with cheese and salsa fixin's, potato wedges, shrimp wontons, assorted fruit, and buffalo wings!! It was SO good and a nice compliment to dancin' and whatever else you had going on!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 So it was a disco party and one of the requirements were to come dressed appropriately...meaning afros, sun glasses, big hair, and just all out FUNKY!! Take a look at some of the outfits!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday night at Rumour's is called "Little Chill" playin' music of the 70's, 80's, and some of the 90's...we wanted more 70's, but we still managed to get down wit it! Here's a few from the dance floor...keep in mind, Rumour's has two cages on the dance floor for the the ummm...exhibitionist in all of us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had SO MUCH FUN...seriously...it was one of the first events in a long time where we had nearly our whole crew together. Weekends like this make me want to plan more functions!! Here's more random shots of the night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope Taei enjoyed his Disco Party...he works really hard and deserves it!!

 

 

Birthday ShinDig Part II

So as I said...our celebrations go on for awhile. Taei's birthday is actually today, the 24th, so we had family over at our place for a BBQ. It was pouring rain in the morning so I wasn't sure how this would work out, but by the afternoon it had cleared up and was nice!! Here's some pix of Taei's Birthday BBQ!

 

 

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAEI!!

So we had to do some shopping at the mall today. When I was younger I preferred the "Sears Side" of the mall. I guess because of the three major shoe stores...Footlocker, Foot Action, and Champs. Plus there was Spencer's and of course the movies! But now that I'm older I like the "Macy's Side" better. There are more stores on that side, plus with the addition of Price Busters what else do you need? I still prefer the food court on the "sears side" which also diverts me off track for a second.

Remember a long time ago? Like 15+ years ago it used to be "Phase I" and "Phase II" now it's "Updown" and "Downtown"...but which is which? I could never remember and I'm guessing most others can't either that's why it's "sears side" and "macy's side" instead of its proper name! LOL!! ANYWAYS...we headed over to the fairly new Farrell's for dinner!

I used to be a big fan of Ronnie's across of Circuit City in Westridge Center. I was so bummed when they closed down, but Farrell's opened shortly there after and all is good in the world. The food is a bit pricey for sandwhiches and a few salads. Most ranging from $9-$13, but it made us all full and that's whats important.

I started my diet up again on Monday and in an effort to be good I ordered the Oriental Chicken Salad...okay so I'm so fired cuz I totally forgot I blogged because I didn't take ANY pictures of the food! I know...what the heck?! So sorry guys, but trust me...it was good and everyone was so full! Taei got the mushroom swiss burger with regular fries...I had a bite and it was pretty good, different from Chili's Mushroom Swiss, but still good and almost the same size! Nanu (niece) got the Farrell's burger, which is a regular all american burger with the waffle cut fries. I LOVE WAFFLE CUT FRIES! They are not only super good with some kind of additional seasoning, but they're fun to eat! Joann (sister-in-law) got the tuna melt with waffle cut fries. Okay another side note, I love tuna melts. I don't know why, but I do, but most times I don't like to order them at a restaraunt because afterall it's just tuna...well the tuna melt at Farrell's is 7.95 and HUGE! Well worth the money! Teyana (niece) got the Three Cheese Bacon Burger with waffle cut fries. And finally Tiff (friend, sister, confidant) got the Cheese Steak with waffle cut fries. Everything was so yummy!! Half of us was able to finish our meal and the other half had to take some home!

But I do have some pictures!! Well Nanu...our poor neglected child...has never really had a birthday with the family. So we told them it was her birthday...shhh, her birthday is really in August! She had a great time!! One of the best parts of Farrell's is they sing and dance for EVERY birthday being celebrated! It was great and Nanu didn't shy away, she jumped up with them! Plus if you're celebrating your birthday you get a free birthday sundae!

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANU!!